Father Junipero Serra's signature on a 1783 original confirmation register in Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Reverend Monsignor J. Michael McKiernan stands behind a statue of Junipero Serra inside the newly restored refectory at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The statue was commissioned and donated by Mara Domecq after she rode a horse to all 21 California Missions.

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A statue of Junipero Serra greets visitors to Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano.

A cross with a bullet hole through the middle is on display at Mission San Juan Capistrano, where, the story goes, a disgruntled church member fired a gun inside Serra Chapel in the early 1900s. In 2008, during a conservation project, a bullet was found embedded inside the chapel wall, which may give the story credibility.

A cross with a bullet hole through the middle is on display at Mission San Juan Capistrano, where, the story goes, a disgruntled church member fired a gun inside Serra Chapel in the early 1900s. In 2008, during a conservation project, a bullet was found embedded inside the chapel wall which may give the story credibility.

Items celebrating Junipero Serra are available for sale at the Mission San Juan Capistrano store.

President Abraham Lincoln's signature adorns an original 1885 document, kept in the archives at Mission San Juan Capistrano, giving the Missions back to the churches.

A clay bust of Junipero Serra created by artist Rene Case in 1978, is one of the items that will be displayed in the Saint Serra exhibit.

A reproduction crucifix that Father Junipero Serra was known to wear in the 1700s will be on display in a new exhibit at Mission San Juan Capistrano.

An original 1776 Mission San Juan Capistrano marriage records document with Father Junipero Serra's signature, is kept in the Mission's archives.

An original 1776 marriage records document from marriages performed at Mission San Juan Capistrano, is kept in the Mission's archives.

The Rev. Msgr. J. Michael McKiernan stands in front of a statue of Junípero Serra inside the refectory at Mission San Juan Capistrano.

When Pope Francis canonizes Father Junípero Serra on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Serra will be the first Hispanic American saint, and the first saint canonized on American soil.

He also figures to be one of the most controversial saints in the long history of the Roman Catholic Church – a symbol that roils some hearts even as it lifts others.

Serra, an 18th-century Spanish friar who founded nine of the 21 California missions, including Mission San Juan Capistrano, is gaining sainthood, in part, because he helped bring the church to the Americas. By one reckoning, Serra’s legacy is nothing less than California itself.

Serra also was revered during his lifetime, and is said to have reached beyond the cultural mores of his era to help individual native Americans and protect the oppressed.

Many Catholics, particularly in Orange County, have urged Serra’s canonization for decades.

But some Native Americans view Pope Francis’ decision to canonize Serra as a cultural and personal affront.

Father Serra was a key player in a colonization that killed hundreds of thousands of people and fundamentally altered – or eradicated – entire cultures. If Serra protected the oppressed, some say, it was only after playing the role of oppressor.

What’s more, the devastation brought by the church’s rule during Serra’s era is no longer in question.

In July, during a trip to South America, Pope Francis issued a direct apology for the church’s role in the subjugation of indigenous people in the Americas during the colonial era.

His decision to canonize Serra feels, to many, to be contradictory.

A crucial thread in this debate is the Juañeno Band of Mission Indians of what is now San Juan Capistrano.

While they are Native Americans, and proud descendents of people who built the mission under Serra’s hand, many also are Catholic.

For this group, the concept of Saint Serra is a particularly emotional affair.

“Serra was a man of his time, and that time was a period when the very humanity of our ancestors was called into question by the legal and religious doctrines espoused by the church and state,” said Matias Belardes, chairman of the Juañeno, Acjachemen Nation.

“We do not believe that such a man, nor such a time period, should be celebrated.”

‘URBAN PLANNER’

On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds are expected to gather at the Mission San Juan Capistrano to watch a live broadcast of Serra’s canonization mass held by Pope Francis at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C.

“It’s a big day for not just us here in the mission and Catholics in Orange County, but for all Californians,” said Mechelle Lawrence Adams, the mission’s executive director.

“Blessed Serra is the original founder of California, like an urban planner. As California Catholics, he is a source of inspiration for us.”

A highlight at the mission is an exhibit outside the Serra Chapel, where the man who would be saint held mass. Featured in the exhibit are artifacts including an original baptismal bowl used by Serra and a confirmation document bearing his signature.

But earlier this month the Acjachemen Nation, whose ancestors built and worked at the mission, issued a tribal resolution opposing the canonization of Serra.

Belardes said that to Native Americans Serra is, and will remain, a symbol of colonization.

“We object to the uplifting of this symbol,” he said.

Others, including some Native Americans, view Serra in a different light.

Ruben G. Mendoza, a professor of archaeology at Cal State Monterey Bay who is an expert in the development of the missions, said it is unfair to assume that Native American societies changed only because of Serra and colonization.

“A lot of the allegations of abuse with regard to Serra have been misinterpreted,” said Mendoza, who has both Native American and Hispanic roots.

“Serra was not just a man of his time, but a man who was ahead of his time when it came to advocating for the rights of Native American people.”

Mendoza said there is record of Serra traveling to Mexico City to meet with the then-viceroy and speak on behalf of two Native American women who were raped by a Spanish soldier.

“There is no documentation or evidence that shows Serra abused or killed anyone,” Mendoza said. “In fact, he learned the languages of the natives. There were 300 to 400 Indians crowding his bedside as he lay dying, who wept and prayed for him. They called him ‘Padre Santo’ or ‘our saintly father.’”

Other historians and Native Americans say that by canonizing Serra, the church is subtly rewriting history.

“And Serra, as president of the California missions, upheld that doctrine.”

Pope Francis’ decision to grant sainthood to Serra also has tarnished his apology to indigenous people, Mooney D’Arcy said.

“I wish I could view it as a genuine apology,” she said. “To me, what Serra did as an individual does not matter. If he followed the church’s oppressive doctrine at the time, he should not be celebrated, period.”

“Making Serra a saint erases the real stories, the true history of the natives,” she said. “It’s basically saying that the oppression, the killing, the genocide, did not happen.

“We need to take a hard look at that time period and make sure that the entire, true story is told to future generations.”

HISTORY RETOLD

Some believe the canonization of Serra will do exactly that.

“Maybe, through this discussion, some type of reconciliation can occur,” said Steve Hackel, a professor of history at UC Riverside and author of a Serra biography.

“There is no question that the Catholic Church has reached out. In fact, Pope Francis’ mass is going to be in Spanish, which sends a powerful message to Latinos in California.”

Hackel believes Serra was paternalistic and condoned corporal punishment, but was “not the genocidal maniac some say” he was.

“I don’t think he was a sadist or killed Indians. Missions were lethal for indigenous people because of diseases, and because of the effort to replace native culture with Catholic and Spanish culture.”

But even with different views and emotions about the meaning of Serra and the church, recent history might trump older history.

Juaneno leader Belardes notes that his people and the church have had close ties for decades. That isn’t likely to change, he says, even if they disagree.

“Our ancestors shed their blood, sweat and tears to build this mission,” he said. “It is our sacred responsibility to take care it.”

Deepa Bharath covers religion for The Orange County Register and the Southern California Newspaper Group. Her work is focused on how religion, race and ethnicity shape our understanding of what it is to be American and how religion in particular helps influence public policies, laws and a region's culture. Deepa also writes about race, cultures and social justice issues. She has covered a number of other beats ranging from city government to breaking news for the Register since May 2006. She has received fellowships from the International Women's Media Foundation and the International Center for Journalists to report stories about reconciliation, counter-extremism and peace-building efforts around the world. When she is not working, she loves listening to Indian classical music and traveling with her husband and son.

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